Caitlin McDiarmid
APP Administrator

I’ve been asked to write an article about how technology has changed over the course of my tenure with the Association.

When I first started working for the Association, I worked exclusively on a desktop computer in my home with a phone line, a credit card machine, and a small closet full of supplies and brochure stock.

That is how it remained for many years. During those years we contracted out our Registration Staff (and processes) at Conference and each instructor brought their own computer for their class. It was a great leap forward a few years down the road when we bought laptop computers for both the registration desk and our classrooms.

Back at home in the office I went from a desktop computer to a combination of desktop and laptop computers. Now I work solely on a laptop computer which moves with me whether working in the office, at home, or at Conference.

We have certainly utilized programs such as Cvent for registration in the past few years and have added to the Cvent family of programs with the CrowdCompass app starting last year. These programs have allowed us to register people ourselves, and even have them register themselves onsite. With these advances, we have also been able to compile statistics over a period of years which help us make decisions about each year’s Conference. We’ve gone from stamping cardboard cards, to collecting paper tickets, to bar code scanners, to scanning with smartphones (OnArrival) at our classroom doors. This has made the collection of data in our classes more accurate and streamlined the certificate production process.

However, in the office, software has stayed fairly consistent for us until this year. We have continued to manage our databases exclusively with Excel. As we have grown, this has become increasingly cumbersome. Information is transferred from one spreadsheet to another or maintained on multiple documents, which not only takes a lot of time, but comes with an increased risk of error.

After Conference last year I became frustrated with the problems facing us in the office and the overwhelming amount of time devoted to tasks which I felt could be automated. I did some preliminary research and began pitching the idea of the Association adopting a management system. Jef Saunders was also looking for ways to automate the application process by taking it fully online. While it took a lot of work and we looked at a lot of systems, we were able to narrow it down and select one (with approval of the Board) which we feel very excited about.

I am happy to announce that the APP is on the cusp of implementing an Association Database Management Software system. When fully active, this program will change the way we do our “day to day” work. It will streamline almost all of our office processes, consolidate all our databases into one, provide a structure for committees to work from, establish a member portal where members can access their record, upload documents, pay dues, get member notices, provide an online application process, automate many of our communications, and more!

This is a big undertaking and will result in big changes. At this point in the office pretty much every day, I think to myself “this would be so much easier if the system was already in place.” I was probably about a year later than I should have been with my push for us to look at an overhaul of how we manage things in the office and with our membership documents applications and other matters. I know that Jef also cannot wait for these processes to be fully active. Like with all the projects this will take time; we want to do it right the first time.

The office has already taken its accounting program online. Members are experiencing the benefits by being able to pay their dues directly from their invoices. We see the benefits as those payments get recorded in real time, saving Paul King, Emily (our clerk), and me a lot of data entry. Paul and I can also both work in the program whenever we want, which keeps us from getting too behind on the growing workload.

So while it has taken us 13 years to really change how we handle our daily tasks, our databases, and our office procedures, we ARE doing it this year. I am happy to help steer the Association to this new level of efficiency and growth. I am sure that every member and every potential member will benefit from this new system – this new technology – and the changes that result.

This management software system will change my job. How it will change my job is not yet fully known. I am prepared however to go with the flow and tackle new challenges that come with new systems and any kind of change. I hope that those who are reading this will watch as the Association takes this great leap forward. We encourage our membership to provide feedback on how these changes affect the Association, its members, potential members, and the greater community of the piercing industry.